3 killed in attack on highway in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Three gunmen opened fire on security forces at a highway roadblock in central Turkey on Thursday, killing a soldier, a policeman and a truck driver whose vehicle they escaped in, the region's governor said.

Two of the men were later caught at a clinic seeking medical help for their wounds, according to the governor of Nigde, where the attack took place. As the suspects were being transferred to a hospital under guard, hundreds of people gathered there to protest the attack, coming under pepper spray fire from police, according to the Dogan news agency.

Necmeddin Kilic, the Nigde governor, told the state-run Anadolu Agency the men opened fire on soldiers manning the roadblock and on police who were called in for help. They escaped in a truck after killing its driver. The governor said the men were foreign nationals but he gave no details on their nationalities.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described it as a "terror act." No group was identified and a motive was not provided.

Kurdish, leftist and radical Islamic groups have carried out terror attacks in Turkey in the past. Kurdish rebels are observing a cease fire declared last year as part of efforts to end a conflict that has killed thousands of people since 1984.